This invention relates to storage racks, and, in particular, to gravity-flow storage racks which rely upon inclined, non-driven rollers (idler rollers) to bring products to the front of the rack.
Gravity-flow storage racks with idler rollers are well known. They include a plurality of inclined roller platforms. Usually, these racks are loaded from the back, so that each product rolls down its respective inclined roller platform until it reaches a stop at the front of the platform or until it bumps into a product in front of it.
When the products are loaded onto the back of the rack, they are dropped onto the rack. The problem in prior art racks is that the impact of products being dropped onto the rollers can damage the rollers. In order to solve that problem, in many cases, a plate is put on the back of the rack so that the product drops onto the plate and does not drop directly onto the rollers. However, if the product is dropped onto a plate, then someone has to push the product forward until it reaches the rollers, so it can roll forward. If the products are heavy, this can be hard work, requiring expensive manpower. Of course, it would be possible to build the rollers strong enough that they could absorb the impact of the products being dropped on them, but that would make the rack prohibitively expensive.